Pencil-sharpener



(No Model.)

I. E. T MAN. PENCIL PBNER.

No. 450,433; I Paten-tedApf. 14,1891.

UNITED TATES PATENT FFICE.

IRA EDGAR TALLMAN, OF PATERSON, NEWV JERSEY.

PENCIL-SHARPEN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 450,433, dated April 1431891.

Application filed August 2, 1890. Serial No, 360,793. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, IRA EDGAR TALLMAN, of Paterson, in the county of Passaic, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Pencil-Sharp eners, of which the following is a specification.

It is known that lead-pencils, crayons, and analogous marking devices adapted to serve either for paper or for slates may be sharpened by circumferential movement with the aid of a hollow shell having its inner face roughened like sand-paper.

In what I esteem the most complete form of my invention there is a smooth post or button in the center of the shell which holds the pencil out against the roughened surface as it is traversed around, and there is also a member serving as a hoop or casing to hold the shell composed of paper or other thin sheetin position. The device when complete may be exactly cylindrical, but is preferably tapered, so as to constitute the frustum of a cone. The central post or guide should extend a little beyond the rim of the outer shell, for a reason which will appear farther on. It adds materially to the usefulness of the invention to insert an ordinary pencil-sharpener in the post. The user has the option of reducing the pencil by the ordinary revolving motion in the sharpener in the center or by traversing the pencil around in the annular space exterior thereto.

The device may be manufactured in a great variety of forms and proportions so long as it allows the pencil to apply at an angle and to be moved around in its interior, presenting the parts near the point at such an angle to the file-like surface that it shall remove so much of the pencil as is necessary to produce the required tapering point.

The following is a description of what I esteem the best means of carrying out the invention.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification.

Figure 1 is a side View, and Fig.2 a central longitudinal section. The remaining figures show modifications. All are central longitudinal sections.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures where they appear.

A is the central plug or body, of hard finegrained wood or other suitable material, certain portions being designated, when necessary, by supernumerals, as A A the. The portion A is a frustum of a cone. The portion A immediately adjacent is of less diamter. Another portion A is a part extending forward and adapted to serve as a guide in traversing the pencil around. The center is hollowed at the end, as indicated by a, and is provided with an obliquely-mounted cutter B, which performs the function of shaving the wood when the pencil is revolved therein in the manner long approved in pencil-sharpeners. properly shaped to form a handle.

D is apiece of sand-paper or emery-paper wound tightly upon the conical portion A and confined by tightly applying the case 0 and forcing it endwise thereon. The paper is previously cut by dies or otherwise to such form that its front edge extends nearly but not quite as far forward as the central button. The case 0 should extend forward to about the same extent as the paper. It. confines the paper by compressing it firmly on the bearing part A, and it-supports the paper in front of that part by presenting a strong and reliable backing. In winding on the paper I' confine the last edge by drivinga nail E through the outer thickness and all the other thicknesses of the paper into the body. It aids to hold the paper additional to the inclosing case 0.

M is a pencil in the act of being sharpened. To effect this it is traversed bodily around in the annular space between the central button A and the shell D. The pencil being simply gyrated without rotating onits axis presents all sides of its point in succession to the different points in the interior of the shell D and the pencil is reduced to a point in the obvious manner.

hen the wood requires sharpening, the pencil is thrust into the central aperture a and rotated. After the pencil is sharpened and removed the device is inverted and its central button A is struck forcibly onthe An extension A at the other end is desk or any other firm object. Any chips produced by the action of the cutter 13 in the j central aperture a and any dust prod need by the action of the roughened surface while the -pencil is gyratcd in the annular space between A and D are caused to fall out by the The central aperture 3 jar or shock produced.

a is extended far enough to hold a quantity of chips. The contraction of the diameter of A provides a corresponding space for receiw 5 1ng the dust.

the strain impressed on its interior in sharpening the pencil. It allows a thin shell of paper or analogous material to serve G is a cap, which may be struck up from brass or other sheet metal adapted to match over the open end when the sharpener is not in use.

Fig. 3 shows a modification in which the handle is dispensed with and the central aperture a and the cutter B therein are also dispensed with. The body isasimple solid piece of wood. Fig. t shows the front end of the body finished with a different and rounded outline. Fig. 5 is a modification in which the length of the body is decreased and a hole produced through the center. Fig. 6 shows the guide further shortened and the bearingsurface A and shell D cylindrical. Fig. 7 shows a modification corresponding to Fig. 3, but with a pencil-sharpener inserted at the rear.

Further modifications may be made by any good mechanic without departing from the principle or sacrificing the advantages of the invention. In all the forms where a sheet of be wound two or three times around and se- I cured by two or other number of broad-headed nails well driven in. In such case the inclosing case maybe dispensed with.

For some special purposes, eminently for sharpening slate-pencils and the like especially hard material, I propose also to roughen the extension A of the body. When thus prepared the pencil will be traversed around in precisely the same manner as before described, and my device will abrade and sharpen by removing some of the particles on the inner face as well as the outer.

The same truly tapering point will be produced as with the other form.

I claim as my invention 1. A sharpener for pencils and analogous articles, consisting of a central body having a reduced forward extension, a surrounding shell having an internal abrading-surface,

and an external casing binding the shell upon the body and affording a backing or support for the shell, substantially as specified.

The portion A, adapted to serve as a bearing, an extension A adapted to serve as a guide in revolving the pencil, and the inclosing roughened shell D, combined and arranged, as shown, so as to present between them an annular space in which the pencil may be traversed around, and a pocket or re cess a, in which dust may be retained and removed at intervals, as herein specified.

The combinatioirofacircular shell roughened on its inner face, an internal body having a handle for holding, a bearing-surface for an inclosing shell and an extension so much smaller than the shell as will allow an annular space sufficient to receive a pencil and allow it to be traversed around, and an I inclosing case adapted to perform the double function of holding and releasing the roughened shell and of supporting itagainst pressure from within, as herein specified.

t. A sharpener for pencils and analogous articles, having a body and inclosing roughened shell with an annular space between in which a pencil may be traversed around, in combination with each other and with an independent sharpener having acutter B in the central guide, arranged for joint operation, as herein specified.

In testimony that I claim the invention above set forth I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses IRA EDGAR TAL LMAN.

W itn esses:

tlHAs. S. BARBER, i-I. A. JOHNSTONE. 

